The first ever screening of new documentary NATIVE IN NUHAKA was held as part of the Wairoa Maori Film Awards night.

ABOUT NATIVE IN NUHAKA

SYNOPSIS Award winning director Hiona Henare presents this warm and heartfelt short documentary based on a small village in New Zealand where the community gather each year to support Leo Koziol, their local film buff, and his international Maori film festival.

Set against the back drop of the annual Wairoa Maori film festival in idyllic Nuhaka, where local and international filmmakers gather annually to celebrate indigenous films and storytelling. Now in its 12th year, the Wairoa Maori film festival is the first and only film festival in New Zealand run by a local Maori whanau, the Koziol family.

Kahungunu Marae, Nuhaka, 3 pm Friday June 2 2017

Nau Mai! Nau Mai! Haere Mai!

Join us for the official festival powhiri (traditional Maori welcome), welcoming film makers from across Aotearoa and around the world. Our registration desk is also open right after the powhiri. Then settle in for a weekend of great films!

GAIETY THEATRE, WAIROA, 3 PM SATURDAY June 3 2017

KIRIATA WAIROA: WAIROA STORIES

MOHAKA

Director Jharaiz Kiriona (Maori) 2017 3 min NZThe latest music video from Toni Huata tells a story of her home village of Mohaka.

POSSUM

Director/Writer Dave Whitehead (Māori) 2017 15 min NZ

Set in New Zealand in the 1970s, Possum is a tale of two young brothers who accompany their lumberjack father to a forest campsite. At odds with each other, the two hatch a plan to head into the woods and hunt for a notorious possum named Scar. Possum is a short film based on a true story between director Dave Whitehead and his older brother Nathan, based on when they grew up in rural Wairoa. Filmed in Otaki.

HOPUKIA TE TAO

2016 3 mins NZ

NZ On Air Best Music Video of the Year - Waiata Maori Awards. Toni Huata featuring Aunty Dr. Rose Rangimarie Pere.

6 pm Saturday June 3, Gaiety Theatre, Wairoa

WAIROA MAORI FILM AWARDS

The annual Wairoa Maori Film Awards take place once again at the stunning Gaiety Theatre! Join us on the red carpet for another evening of celebration of the best in Maori, Pasifika and international indigenous cinema!

6 pm Reception

7 pm Maori Film Awards Officially Begins

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: POI 360 & TONI HUATA

There will be two stunning musical performances on the evening: POI 360 LIVE will open the Awards evening, with live Poi performance to the stunning immages of Poi 360 on the giant screen.

Then as the Centrepiece of the festival will be live musical performance by TONI HUATA!

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: TAME ITI

Musical performances * Kai & Korero * Bar

Screening as part of the evening's celebration will be:

I ROTO I TE KUPENGA

Directors Charlotte Graham (Māori), Sam Ryan 2017 3 min NZ

A Collaborative art piece between Charlotte Graham and Samuel Ryan addressing the issue of ocean acidification. This was part of Charlotte Graham's exhibition Waikawa.

POI THE HEARTBEAT OF A NATION

As a timeless indigenous instrument of Aotearoa, it has an artistic beat that enamors the world. At first sight, the poi can be simply described as a ball on the end of a string. For Māori, it is the heartbeat of a nation and an extension of themselves.

POROPOROAKI

KAHUNGUNU MARAE, NUHAKA, 9 AM MONDAY 5 JUNE

6 PM FRIDAY JUNE 2, KAHUNGUNU MARAE, NUHAKA

YEAR ZERO Short films

Presented by Asinabka Film & Media Festival, Ottawa, Canada

"Year Zero alludes to many things, including film history, literature, music, and pop-culture; it references “Germany, Year Zero” a 1948 film set in devastated post-World War II Berlin; it references “Panic in Year Zero!” a 1962 film about the aftermath of a nuclear attack on Los Angeles; it references industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails 2007 concept album based on a post-apocalyptic earth; it references “Year Zero” a 2012 science fiction book in which aliens mark the beginning of a new era. It also alludes to the apocalyptic nature of colonial violence in Canada and the ongoing neo-colonialism of Canada. As a collection of short films by Indigenous directors from Canada, and programmed by Indigenous curators, Year Zero is a subversive critique of Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation. While Canada celebrates its 150th birthday, this is a complicated matter for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Year Zero includes films that challenge Canadian nationalism, films that highlight the extermination of the buffalo, films that show the horrors enacted on Indigenous children at residential schools, films that reveal the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, films that discuss racism, displacement, and the failure of the justice systems, and films that show the strength and resurgence of Indigenous peoples." - Howard Adler & Christopher Wong, Asinabka Film & Media Festival, Ottawa, Canada

Ute Kanata (Here in Canada)

Virginie Michel (Innu) • 2015 • 2:27 • Canada • Innu Language

With a spin on the traditional Canadian National Anthem, here the “Ô Kanata“ of Virginie Michel is sung in the Innu Language, and demands that the presence of Canada’s First Nations be recognized in the national narratives.

Virginie Michel is an Innu woman from the Mani-Utenam community who worked several years with children. In her free time, she likes to create: crafts, songs, nursery rhymes. Her project is to elaborate an interactive dictionary for early childhood. She also follows actively the political evolution of her people: aware of the future of First Nations languages, she tries to promote the recognition of these tongues, and in particular, the national hymn in native language. Now that she is freer, she can pursue an old dream.

Macrocosmic

Craig Commanda (Algonquin) • 2016 • 3:30 • Canada • Anishinaabe

The beauty of the natural world is captured in extreme close-ups, with narration in the Algonquin Language.

Craig Commanda is an Anishnabe musician and filmmaker from Kitigan Zibi First Nation. He plays guitar and bass, and scores the music to his own films as well as for other film projects and collaborations.

Sisters and Brothers

Kent Monkman (Cree) • 2016 • 3:44 • Canada • No Dialogue

In a pounding critique of Canada’s colonial history, this short film draws parallels between the annihilation of the bison in the 1890s and the devastation inflicted on the Indigenous population by the residential school system. Part of the Souvenir series, it’s one of four films by First Nations filmmakers that remix archival footage to address Indigenous identity and representation, reframing Canadian history through a contemporary lens.

Kent Monkman is a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry who works with a variety of mediums, including painting, film/video, performance, and installation. He has had solo exhibitions at numerous Canadian museums, participated in various international group exhibitions, and his award-winning short film and video works have been screened at various national and international festivals.

Heritage Minutes: Chanie Wenjack

Shane Belcourt (Metis) • 1:00 • 2016 • Canada

A glimpse into the horrors enacted on Indigenous children at residential schools, this emotional Heritage Minute opens on Chanie Wenjack’s attempt to escape his residential school in 1966 and ends with his tragic death on a railway track, not far from where he began.

Shane Belcourt is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and musician based in Toronto. He has made numerous films such as his feature film Tkaronto, a short film produced by the NFB called Boxed In, and a 48-min performance arts documentary called Kaha:w – The Cycle of Life. In 2013 Shane collaborated with playwright Yvette Nolan to create A Common Experience, which was featured in Air Canada’s In-Flight entertainment. In 2014 Shane worked with acclaimed writer Maria Campbell on a live reading/screening with his film Apikiwiyak, at the imagineNATIVE Film Festival. And most recently wrote and directed the 13-part documentary TV series Urban Native Girl which aired on APTN in 2015.

Stolen

Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs (Mohawk) • 7:00 • 2016 • Canada • English

Sheena, a lost teenager, is placed in a girl’s home. Seemingly forgotten and yearning for a life of freedom, she runs away, only to be picked up by a dangerous stranger. The directorial debut by actor Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs is a sober commentary on missing Indigenous women.

Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs (Mohawk) is a film and television actress best known for her starring role in Rhymes for Young Ghouls, for which she received a Best Actress nomination at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards. Her most recent acting work includes roles in feature length films The Sun at Midnight and The Land of Rock Gold.

Oú Sont tes Plumes (Where are your feathers)

Widia Larivière & Mélanie Lumsdem • 2015 • 4:52 • Canada • English

Two sets of sisters humorously share their experiences with prejudices against First Nations people.

Widia Larivière is an Anishnabe from Timiskaming but she grew up in town. As a feminist and activist for the aboriginal cause, she has been involved in many youth initiatives for the rights of aboriginal peoples. Since 2009, she has been the Youth Coordinator for Quebec Native Women. She is also the co-initiator of the Quebec section of Idle No More, a movement that intends to contribute to having Aboriginal People's voices heard.

Mélanie Lumsdem was born to an Inuvialuit mother and a Belgian father and grew up in urban areas. She is in charge of projects for DestiNATIONS, an Aboriginal organization based in Montreal, for research on the state of native cultural development in Quebec. She co-founded Mikana, an organization whose mission is to raise awareness of Aboriginal realities in Canada.

Gods Acre

Kelton Steopanowich (Métis) • 2016 • 15 min. Canada

Lorne Cardinal stars in this unsettling, powerful short of a man determined to protect hisland at all cost. As the water slowly rises in a frighteningly familiar future, the man must choose to abandon all that he knows or give in to the rising tide.

Kelton Steopanowich is a filmmaker from Fort Chipewyan in northern Alberta. He is best known for writing, directing, and producing the short film Gods Acre, which had its world premiere in 2016 at TIFF. In 2016 Kelton was a recipient of the Telefilm micro-budget program to produce his first feature film The Road Behind in the summer of 2017.

Four Faces of the Moon

Amanda Strong (Michif) •12:56 • 2016 • Canada

Four Faces of the Moon is an animated short told in four chapters, exploring the reclamation of language and Nationhood and peeling back the layers of Canada's colonial history.

Amanda Strong is an Indigenous (Michif) filmmaker, media artist and stop motion artist currently based out of the unceded Coast Salish territory also known as Vancouver. Amanda’s work explores ideas of blood memory and Indigenous ideology. Her films Indigo and Mia’ challenge conventional structures of storytelling in cinema and have screened internationally, most notably at Cannes, TIFF, VIFF, and OIAF. Her latest short animation Four Faces of the Moon will be premiering with CBC Short Docs and is being developed into a graphic novel.

Why We’re Here: Stories From Standing Rock

Candy Renae Fox (Cree) • 2016 • 7:30 • Canada/USA • English

A short documentary about the Two-Spirit Camp at Standing Rock.

Candy Renae Fox is a filmmaker, actress, and artist from Piapot First Nation, and is currently based in Regina, Saskatchewan. She is a film studies graduate from the University of Regina. She is known for her role on APTN’s Moccasin Flats. Her documentary film ‘Backroads’ was selected as one of Canada’s top student films and screened at TIFF in 2015.

Wake Up!

Jessie Short (Métis)• 2015 • 5:58 • Canada • English

A woman transforms into Louis Riel in an exploration of Métis identity

Jessie Short is a curator, writer, and multi-disciplinary artist and emerging filmmaker whose work involves memory, multi-faceted existence, Métis history and visual culture. Short obtained an MA degree in 2011 and an Undergraduate degree in 2006. Short worked in the visual arts department at The Banff Centre for the Arts, and she also spent two years as the executive director of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective in Toronto, Ontario. She is currently working on various contracts as a curator and documentary filmmaker.

KIRIATA MAORI: Maori Shorts 2017 (61 min)

A collection of new short films all directed by Maori directors, some screening for the first time!

MOHAKA

2017 3 min NZThe latest music video from Toni Huata tells a story of her home village of Mohaka.

POSSUM

Director/Writer Dave Whitehead (Māori) 2017 15 min NZ

Set in New Zealand in the 1970s, Possum is a tale of two young brothers who accompany their lumberjack father to a forest campsite. At odds with each other, the two hatch a plan to head into the woods and hunt for a notorious possum named Scar. Possum is a short film based on a true story between director Dave Whitehead and his older brother Nathan, based on when they grew up in rural Wairoa.

LAUNDRY

A funny, light-hearted, and cringingly relatable story about love life after marriage. Starring Aidee Walker and Jarod Rawiri.

NATALIE

Director Qianna Titore (Maori) Producer Eloise Veber

Exec Producer Michael Bennett (Maori) 2017 9 min NZ

A coming of age drama set in the Far North’s Hokianga harbour. On the day that 14-year-old Natalie is given a precious waiata composed by her deceased Koro, she is unexpectedly thrown into a journey that will leave her changed forever.

TAMA

Tama is the result of a unique collaboration between deaf and hearing filmmakers. Tama is about a young Maori deaf boy who wants to learn the Haka. On a near fatal car trip, Tama has to confront his family. In his struggle he begins to grow from an undervalued youth into a proud young man.

MANNAHATTA

Director/Writer Renae Maihi (Māori) 2016 15 min NZ/USA

In the city that never sleeps wanders a ghost that cannot rest. ImagineNative 2016.

POI E: THE STORY OF OUR SONG

In 1984 a Maori popsong topped the charts in New Zealand. It was nothing short of a miracle that music with Maori language lyrics could achieve such success. It was the heyday of Tina Turner and Michael Jackson – and of course most songs were sung in English. But then along came Dalvanius Prime, an imposing Maori with a strong but silky smooth voice, and the singers of the Patea Maori Club. Prime had already established himself as a ‘black’ soul singer, then he began to mix traditional melodies with modern Beats. Although the media would have loved to ignore it, Poi E became a ‘hymn of a new generation’, ultimately encouraged many Maori to rediscover their roots and experienced a new hype in Taika Waititis feature Boy

10 AM SATURDAY JUNE 3, KAHUNGUNU MARAE, NUHAKA

LGBTQI+ AOTEAROA THEN AND NOW

This documentary covers the journey of the Qmunity Youth group from Gisborne attending the 30th Anniversary of the Homosexual Law Reform. They interview those who led the charge to get the bill passed and how it has helped shape life for LGBTQI Takatapui rangatahi now.

Preceded by:

TU TIKA, TU PONO - BE TRUE TO YOURSELF

Director Moka Namana (Māori) 2017 13 min NZ

This documentary gives an understanding on what it is like for a Maori gay male, living in a world where homosexuality is an uncomfortable subject. It tells the story of three Maori men from three diffrent generations.

KIRIATA PASIFIKA: Pasifika Shorts (60 min)

'AKA'ŌU: TĀTATAU IN THE COOK ISLANDS

An unlikely master of the traditional Polynesian art of Tātatau, Englishman Croc Coulter must pass on his knowledge to a new apprentice.

THE PROMISE OF PIHA

Director Hanelle Harris (Māori) 2016 16 min NZ

White Sunday weekend has arrived. Amidst the harmonies, Pule struggles with the reality that he will soon be leaving this, his future sealed as a pastor in training at a prestigious Bible College in Samoa. But before he leaves, he will reveal his truth. ImagineNative 2016, mispon 2016. Starring Jeremiah Tauamiti.

MARIA

Director/Writer Jeremiah Tauamiti (Samoa) 2016 14 min NZ

An elderly Polynesian matriarch receives help from an unexpected visitor as she struggles to reunite her fractured family. HIFF 2016. Producer Karin Williams.

DATE NIGHT

A colourful New Zealand comedy/drama short film that captures a day in the life of Lily(Carter), a beautiful and caring Maori solo mum and her two high voltage children Tahi and Pipi. Lilly wants nothing more than to go on her date night but life gets in the way.

TREE

Director Lauren Jackson 2017 16 min NZ

One evening Alisi, a New Zealand Tongan teen, climbs a huge tree and won’t come down. As night falls and we discover her secret, Alisi must decide whether to bow to tradition or find a new path - with or without her family.

2.30 pm saturday june 3, kahungunu marae, nuhaka

KIRIATA HAWAI’I: Hawai’i Shorts (24 min)

LET THE MOUNTAIN SPEAK

A visual treat of the world's tallest mountain on earth where telescopes reach out to starry skies, this visual poem accompanied by stunning images and ethereal music alludes also to human relationships where sacred and secular values collide and search for meaning. Cinematographer Paul Atkins (Master and Commander).

THE BRIDGE

Director Cindy Iodice 2016 20min USA (Hawai'i)

Pono, a tenacious seven-year old boy lives with his family in a five-story tree house deep in the rainforest of Hawaii's Manoa Valley. Pono's father provides critical ancestral knowledge through cultural transmission to his youngest descendant. After tragedy strikes the family, Pono's mother blames her youngest son and repeatedly pushes him away. Pono, however, is the heir to critical cultural practices, which can help her resolve her inner conflict between Christianity/religion and Hawaiian spirituality, but only if she can concede to Hawaiian culture through the encouragement of the son she has alienated.

3.30 pm Saturday june 3, kahungunu marae, nuhaka

WHEN THEY AWAKE

"My people will sleep for 100 years, but when they awake, it will be the artists that give them their spirit back", said Louis Riel, about 100 years ago. The moment is now. Witness the awakening - it's nothing short of a revolution!

Following on the footsteps of trailblazers like Buffy Sainte-Marie and Robbie Robertson, Indigenous musicians across North America are carving paths into mainstream consciousness, and with it reclaiming their rightful place as fundamental pieces of the contemporary social fabric.

Working in every genre, from Hip Hop to Rock to Electro Pop to EDM to Country and beyond, an empowered, outspoken, woke generation of musicians is fiercely channeling the darkness of the colonial past, and the strength and resilience of their ancestors, into a stirring, hopeful vision of the future.

Featuring artists like Inuk punk throat singer Tanya Tagaq, Anishinaabe EDM outfit A Tribe Called Red, Cree electro-pop sensation IskWé, and Dene singer-songwriter Leela Gilday, among others, AWAKE! is a remarkable snapshot of a burgeoning music scene through a kaleidoscope of over 40 powerful Indigenous voices.

SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY

Directors Jon Betz & Taggart Siegel 2016 90 minutes USA

Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. Worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind, these subtle flecks of life are the source of all existence. Like tiny time capsules, they contain the songs, sustenance, memories, and medicines of entire cultures. They feed us, clothe us, and provide the raw materials for our everyday lives. In a very real sense, they are life itself.

Yet in our modern world, these precious gifts of nature are in grave danger. In less than a century of industrial agriculture, our once abundant seed diversity—painstakingly created by ancient farmers and gardeners over countless millennia—has been drastically winnowed down to a handful of mass-produced varieties. Under the spell of industrial “progress” and a lust for profit, our quaint family farmsteads have given way to mechanized agribusinesses sowing genetically identical crops on a monstrous scale.

You TURN

After a bungled robbery, James is on the run from the law with nothing but the open road ahead of him. Thinking he is in the clear he tries to relax and drive, until he realises he has unexpected passengers on board. James has only one chance to turn his life around. Will he take it?

LUCKY BILLY

KEEP IT IN COMMUNITY! Everyone loves Lucky Billy and wants him to achieve his football dreams. With an AFL selector in town, he’s keen to make a good impression. His grand-father gives him money for new boots, but it’s not quite enough. Will Billy take what he has or will he risk everything for his dream boots?

BLIGHT

Director: Perun Bonser

Set in the early 20th century on Australia's western frontier, a police Constable hunts down a band of dangerous Criminals aided by a young, female Aboriginal Tracker. However, when the Constable is severely injured the Tracker is forced to eliminate the last of the Criminals on her own.

TWO SPIRIT FRY BREAD

Made at the Mispon Film Festival in Canada, three two-spirit directors got together and made this fun short film looking at the magic of fry bread! Anishinaabe Chef Sleepswithbears is joined by special guest Kahu from Aotearoa. Flames, fun and food ensues!

SEARCH FOR THE WORLD'S BEST INDIAN TACO

Director/Writer Steven Judd (Kiowa, Choctaw) 2010, 15 min. USA

A Choctaw man regales his grandson with tales of his lifelong quest to find true love.

1 pm sunday june 4 kahungunu marae, nuhaka

KIRIATA MOTU HONU: Turtle Island Shorts (74 min)

A collection of native shorts from Canada and the USA.

IN THE BEGINNING WAS WATER AND SKY

Director/Writer Ryan Ward 2017 13 min USA

A haunting and visually stunning fairytale that blends fantasy and real life events. Two Native American children navigate the dark corners of American history trying to find their way back to a home that may be lost forever.

KÉWKU

Director Sean Stiller 2016 10 min Canada

Using the backdrop of traditional Shuswap territory in British Columbia’s interior as both physical and symbolic landscape, Kéwku weaves the tumultuous life experiences of Shuswap elder Ralph Phillips to his relationship with the healing medicine sage.

7 MINUTES

Director Tasha Hubbard 2016 7 min Canada

Marie’s walk from her university library to her home is an even seven minutes. It’s a walk she has made many times but one night she is followed by a man who tries to get her into his van.

THE FEATHER FROM FISH LAKE

The Tsilhqot'in have been fighting a proposed gold and copper mine in their unceded territory for decades. This film follows an eagle feather, passed in ceremony, as it journeys to Victoria BC (the capital city) and delivered to the Premier with the message: No means No.

FROM UP NORTH

Director Trudy Stewart Producer Janine Windolph 2017 13 min Canada

From Up North is a short, poetic, documentary on the director's experience recording Indian Residential School survivors' stories for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

TWO SPIRIT TALES

Made at the Mispon Film Festival in Canada, three two-spirit directors got together and made this spooky short film that delves into the surreal. Filmed in the artists residence.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

Writer/Director Phil Davison 2017 13 min NZ

A short film that puts a human face on warfare. Bill, a young Maori soldier gets his first taste of warfare when his unit is shelled, and he runs away in panic.He finds a barn, and goes inside to find some shelter.

LAND OF THE TANIWHA

Director Aidan Otene Dickens (Māori) 2017 14 min NZ

Wiremu asks his Te Reo teacher how to call a taniwha. What follows is a story of forgiveness and redemption.

CONVERSATIONS WITH A FILM CRITIC

Director Lennie Hill (Maori) 2017 10 min NZ

A homeless man must make pilgrimage around the city before reaching a place of completion.

PIKOWAE

Director Vanessa Rare (Māori) 2004 18 min NZ

Rua and Petree are intending to pick up a car in Pikowae and make a run for it. Arriving at the sign post, they wait for the other party to arrive. Tensions arise - two men who don’t know each other, stuck in the middle of nowhere.

The Wairoa Maori Film Festival was founded in 2005 with the purpose of supporting, recognising and presenting the indigenous storyteller narrative. We are a non profit, non political organisation Te Roopu Whakaata Maori i Te Wairoa -Wairoa Maori Film Festival Inc. (c) 2005-2014.